Just a Small Glimpse
by AdriDee
Summary: Someone who ran away from Point Place comes back and gets a small peak of a life she left in her past.


1997, Point Place, Wisconsin

It had been several years since she had come back to this wretched town. She hadn't wanted to, but damn life had pulled her back in.

She had done her best to avoid certain streets—certain people. She kept herself on the east side of town and didn't leave it unless absolutely necessary.

People recognized her, somewhat welcomed her back, and didn't ask the question she was hoping they wouldn't ask. After a year of being back, though, curiosity beat the best of her. She was the one who asked.

Not much information was given to her. People knew very little about him. He had moved away from town over a decade ago. She wondered if his rich father had something to do with it, but some people told her that he had quit his job with William Barnett just before leaving.

If he wasn't working for his father and he had moved out of town, what was he doing with his life? Did he have a job? A home? Was he alive?

She tried not to worry, but every day this concern popped into her brain.

There were a few times she almost bumped into Kitty Forman, but she restrained herself from going to her and asking her about him. She had a feeling Kitty Forman would know where he was and how he was doing. But she knew better. Kitty Forman would be judging her to the whole time. She didn't have time for that crap. Didn't have time to watch something look down at her.

So, she continued to go about her life and pulled away from temptation. It was the only temptation she had found herself to be successful in, amazingly.

She didn't go after any more information about Steven since that first year she came back. She wiped her hands off the entire thing, to be honest—or so she told herself.

But on a summer day in 1997—Tuesday, July 8th to be exact—information came to _her_. She didn't go looking for it this time.

She had been walking to her apartment from work, uniform still on and her makeup a mess, when she noticed a small group of boys and a girl turning the corner and begin walking on the other sidewalk.

She didn't pay them too much attention. She hated kids.

For a good minute, the group of kids and she walked in the same direction, but on opposite sides of the streets. She then noticed a Honda pull next to the kids.

The only reason why she noticed was because she knew the car very well, and the woman who drove it.

The kids noticed the Honda and stopped walking.

The girl rushed over to the car with a smile. "Hi, Grandma!"

Kitty Forman gave the girl a smile back. "Hi, sweetheart. It's a good thing I bumped into you two," she said to the girl and the boy who was standing closest to the car.

One of the boys, the tallest but scrawniest of the group, gave a look to Kitty Forman. "Not me, Grandma?"

The elderly Kitty shook her head. "No, honey. Just your cousins."

Kitty had two children; she knew this. The scrawny boy belonged to Kitty's son and the other two _had_ to belong to Kitty's daughter. The two looked nothing _like_ Kitty's son.

Kitty went back to talking to the other two children. "Your dad's going to be looking for you two."

"What's up?" asked the boy.

"He wants to see if you wanted to see a movie. It's a pretty slow day at the shop, and Grandpa said he doesn't need help."

The boy turned to his sister. "Wanna?"

The girl nodded and smiled.

"Alright, I'm on my way over to the shop right now. I'll let your dad know, if he's still there. I think he was going to pick up your mom."

"She's still in the beauty salon?" asked the boy.

"Oh, honey. You know it takes five hours for your mom to perfect her hair. It's a good thing your Aunt Laurie loves her job so much, otherwise, she'd have killed your mother by now," Kitty said with a nervous laugh.

The girl laughed.

"Ok, well. Have fun you two. I'll be sure to have dinner ready when you get back." With that, Kitty drove off.

One of the other boys gave a scoff. "Man! You two are hanging out with your parents _again_?! You only come during the summers and sometimes for Christmas. Instead of hanging out with us, you're doing something with your parents."

"Jealous that you don't like your parents like we like ours?" asked the boy with a smirk.

That smirk looked familiar.

"Only _losers_ like their parents, Hyde," said the tall but scrawny boy.

Hearing this conversation made her almost stop walking. The two children weren't Kitty's daughter's. They were Steven's. She turned to look at the boy and girl once again. And she noticed the uncanny similarities.

The boy had a posture very similar to Steven's. Even at a young age, he was standing with confidence and coolness. And the smirk was identical to the one she observed so much when Steven was young. He was even wearing all black; signature of the young burnout.

The attention then went to the girl. She had long, black hair that was very curly—much like Steven's. She had a choker around her neck that also hung around her neck like a rope. Her wrist was covered in bands and she had a couple of rings on her fingers—she had a modern hippie style. The necklace, wristbands, and rings were very much the style Steven had.

Well seeing that he had kids and Kitty had spoken to them about their father in _present_ tense told her that he was very much alive.

Kitty.

She thought about the old woman who the kids had referred to as 'Grandma'. After so many years, she guessed Steven continued to look at the Forman woman as his true mother figure. And keeping in mind what one of the kids said about Steven's kids only visiting during the summers and Christmas, she now knew Steven no longer lived in town. But did come to visit. He didn't have family ties anymore to the town that he knew of. All of his relatives were dead or in jail or living in another city for all he knew. The only reason why he was coming back was for the Formans.

It stung a little; she wasn't going to lie to herself about it.

The kids continued to walk and talk and she slowed down her pace to stay within earshot of them. She especially was taking deep interest in what Steven's kids were saying.

No more than five minutes later, a black El Camino with a powerfully loud engine turned onto the street.

She couldn't see the driver very well or make out a figure. The only thing she could tell was that there was a female in the passenger seat. The car slowed down and stopped right next to the kids.

"Hi, Daddy!" said the girl excitedly as she went over to the driver.

She couldn't see his face, but saw the man taking his head out of the window to kiss the girl on the cheek. "Have fun?" he asked in a low voice to his two kids.

Both kids nodded.

As the boy began to walk around the car, Steven reached over and playfully ruffled his son's hair.

The boy smiled and gave his dad a playful shove.

Steven pretended to get out of the seat to go after him.

The boy dashed out of the way, laughing.

The woman in the passenger's seat came out. She looked just like the little girl did, long and black hair and a petite body; no doubt this was the girl's mother. "What movie do you guys want to watch? Or we could go on a walk?"

The boy and girl made their way around the El Camino. The boy gave a look to his mother's outfit. "Don't think your dress and heels call for a long walk, Mom."

"I walk in heels all day, sweetheart. Believe me, I could go _hiking_ in these things," she said with determination. "Your dad bought me these designer heels for Christmas and I've finally broken them in."

The boy chuckled. He made his way into the car and his sister followed.

"So, what are we going to do?" asked Steven's wife as she began to climb in the car.

"Game night!" said the girl enthusiastically.

"Ice cream!" exclaimed her brother at the same time.

"Pizza!" said another voice from inside the car. It sounded much younger. Steven must have another kid.

"Whatever you guys want," said Steven with a tone of full sincerity.

The family waved to the other boys goodbye.

She watched her estranged son drive off with his family. She hadn't seen him in almost twenty years. She hadn't even gotten a glimpse at his face. All she saw was his curly hair and black shirt. She had seen a little bit of facial hair, but that was about it.

After two decades, this was the closest she had come to her only child. Many questions she had forced herself not to think about were answered in the last ten minutes: He was alive, married, had kids, was well off (seeing that he bought his wife designer shoes and his kids were well kept), still had the El Camino, and came back to Point Place only to visit his foster parents.

The rest of the walk back home, she replayed those ten minutes, trying to remember everything. Every single detail—no matter how small—she ingrained into her memory; such as the few words she heard Steven say, the perkiness in his wife's voice, the smile on Steven's son's face when he was goofing off with Steven, and the daughter's curly hair.

It ate at her that she didn't get a full look at his face, though. After so many years of no contact and feeling no remorse, Edna Hyde felt something pick at her heart. An unsettled, and unrest feeling came over her as well.

* * *

 **NOTE** : I was rewatching the first few seasons of That 70s Show (you know, back when it was good?) and my heart went out again to Hyde. Poor guy just had it shitty and I hope that in the universe, Edna got a life full of loneliness. I wanted to give Edna just a little glimpse of Hyde's later life. Just enough for her to see that he's in a good place and that she had nothing to do with anything positive in his life.

While I wrote this as a stand-alone and I only tagged Hyde in it, this can easily follow cannon to the 'All That I Got' story I wrote ten years ago. It was a long time ago and my writing was **pretty bad** , so I won't point you guys to it. But it is still in my profile if you guys are interested.


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